Why? Twitter is everything annoying and inane on the internet neatly packaged in one little website. The diminutive character limit is contributing to the death of written language. People "tweet" about inane events that aren't even worthy of conversation, yet they feel it's worth cluttering the internet with this garbage. You wouldn't call your friends to inform them that you just ate a cheeseburger, with onions, but people would tweet about it. My god, it's worse than Livejournal, Facebook, and Myspace combined.

I noticed this "feature" this morning, and Spiceworks lost about five hundred cool points. You'll have to replace all the ads with pictures of Summer Glau in order to redeem yourself.

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On a more serious note, yes Twitter has its flaws, but it can be used as a decent tool. I follow Spiceworks, Technet, etc, and value the updates I get in realtime. I know INSTANTLY that Technet subscribers have only a meager few days to go before Win7 final is ready for download for us.

Yes, I post garbage, but thats just because I know no-one listens to me and I don't care. To me it's just a place to let off steam, to rant, and strangely a few people (not many) follow my rants and comment/add to the conversation.

Personally I like all the inane conversation. I actually do want to be able to see what people are doing in near real-time. It's a great way to keep up, communicate and plan things as well as a great way to know where people are for coordination and to know when someone arrives safely without needing them to call every person who might care in the middle of the night.

Ah, but between Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal, Myspace, Friendfeed, and all the other social networking garbage out there, meaningful interaction between individuals (especially that involving spoken words) is becoming obsolete. Sure, it may be a valuable tool for keeping up with emerging technologies or business opportunities. Weren't mailing lists good enough?

I still want pictures of Summer Glau in place of the ads.

On a related note, I think I've hit the cynical old man phase about sixty years early.

But Twitter let’s you speak all you want without pissing off anyone who doesn’t want to listen, which makes it a marketing and sales tool that might have the nirvana potential to actually innocuously zero in a prime demographic. Even better: your biggest fans viral market for you, by re-tweeting to their followers.

Ah, but between Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal, Myspace, Friendfeed, and all the other social networking garbage out there, meaningful interaction between individuals (especially that involving spoken words) is becoming obsolete. Sure, it may be a valuable tool for keeping up with emerging technologies or business opportunities. Weren't mailing lists good enough?

I still want pictures of Summer Glau in place of the ads.

On a related note, I think I've hit the cynical old man phase about sixty years early.

Good for Dell, and if it's bringing in revenue for SW, even better. I don't particularly care about the business uses for it. As for me, mailing lists are more than sufficient, especially since everyone now has a phone that will retrieve e-mails.

I see twitter as a widely accepted substitute for genuine social interaction, and it scares me. The days of going to a pub and catching up over a pint are numbered. It also spells the death of the english language. My children will look at text written in this period of time and percieve it in much the same way I percieve Shakespearean english, because by then all words will be reduced to a no more than 5 character combination of numbers and letters. Punctuation and grammar will be a thing of the past.

Good for Dell, and if it's bringing in revenue for SW, even better. I don't particularly care about the business uses for it. As for me, mailing lists are more than sufficient, especially since everyone now has a phone that will retrieve e-mails.

I see twitter as a widely accepted substitute for genuine social interaction, and it scares me. The days of going to a pub and catching up over a pint are numbered. It also spells the death of the english language. My children will look at text written in this period of time and percieve it in much the same way I percieve Shakespearean english, because by then all words will be reduced to a no more than 5 character combination of numbers and letters. Punctuation and grammar will be a thing of the past.

I don't believe that that is the case. Personally I see it as just another way in which the literate and the illiterate separate themselves. There has always been a massive contingent of illiterates in the English language and every generation has their concerns about them but each generation continues to also turn out a large number of well read, well spoken people who continue to use the language properly.

If anything the proliferation of blogs and other forms of written communication may actually increase the use of the written word as young people today write order of magnitude more than people did just twenty years ago. If anything I think that we are seeing the beginning of a new revolution in the importance of the written word in communication.

SAM, I hope you're right. However, I read your article. Numerically, I'm a member of your "digitally connected" generation at age 24. However, I'd rather exist in a small-ish community and keep tabs on friends as I bump into them at the diner, or share a beer with them at the local pub. I'll call them if I have something worthy of communicating right that moment. I find that form of communication much more valuable than, "lol i 8 a ch33s3brger" posted on some website for all who care to see.

I was about to comment, then didn't, but after SAM's comment, I will say what was on my mind.

Social networking and especially texting has been an absolute godsend for illiterates. Now days you get a message from someone like that and you're like, man they're good at texting...

My wife is good at texting. She can type a well written message on a numerical keypad at about twenty wpm. My mother does the lazy thing on texting, and I just call her when she texts me. I can't bear to read it.

I was about to comment, then didn't, but after SAM's comment, I will say what was on my mind.

Social networking and especially texting has been an absolute godsend for illiterates. Now days you get a message from someone like that and you're like, man they're good at texting...

My wife is good at texting. She can type a well written message on a numerical keypad at about twenty wpm. My mother does the lazy thing on texting, and I just call her when she texts me. I can't bear to read it.

Maybe its the older generation that is the more illiterate then ;)

I've found that when I don't live in the middle of a city I never run into friends at the pub. Ever. If it wasn't for social media I would lose contact with so many people. We all move constantly for work and stay home with the kids and travel and go to family functions and eat in to save money, etc. For most people, I think, the old social system of bumping into people at the local bar disappeared long ago and now, through social media, we are starting to reclaim that critical piece of our social heritage.

I don't think that social media in any way erodes existing social outlets but helps to revitalize ones that have already started to vanish because of lifestyle changes.

So it's a supplement to your social life; not a replacement. I have a good friend that for the 10 years I've known him have maybe gotten a dozen ph calls. He lives in WoW and I've never even visited that place. To my suprise he called me last night and I just suspected he had computer ? or something. But he was like "yeah I'm tryin to remember the phone works both ways." I was very impressed but it was like he was an addict reaching out to a friend for help...

I've found that when I don't live in the middle of a city I never run into friends at the pub. Ever. If it wasn't for social media I would lose contact with so many people. We all move constantly for work and stay home with the kids and travel and go to family functions and eat in to save money, etc. For most people, I think, the old social system of bumping into people at the local bar disappeared long ago and now, through social media, we are starting to reclaim that critical piece of our social heritage.

I don't think that social media in any way erodes existing social outlets but helps to revitalize ones that have already started to vanish because of lifestyle changes.

Unforutunately, you're right. Most cities are too crowded any more for that style of living, and urban sprawl hasn't done anything positive either. However, my time in the Navy had me stationed in New London, CT, and Portsmouth NH for a time. Those were ideal little towns. I could go downtown on any evening, go to one of the four or five pubs in town and find people I knew. And if you didn't, people were open to the thought of interacting with a stranger face to face, and perhaps even forging a new friendship. I can't say I've found a friend outside of immediate neighbors and co-workers since I've moved back to Texas, which is ironic considering Texas' reputation for friendliness and hospitality. Could this have anything to do with this new "digital" existence? The anonymity afforded by the internet makes people much more outgoing in that social "medium"...but at what cost?

I've found that when I don't live in the middle of a city I never run into friends at the pub. Ever. If it wasn't for social media I would lose contact with so many people. We all move constantly for work and stay home with the kids and travel and go to family functions and eat in to save money, etc. For most people, I think, the old social system of bumping into people at the local bar disappeared long ago and now, through social media, we are starting to reclaim that critical piece of our social heritage.

I don't think that social media in any way erodes existing social outlets but helps to revitalize ones that have already started to vanish because of lifestyle changes.

Unforutunately, you're right. Most cities are too crowded any more for that style of living, and urban sprawl hasn't done anything positive either. However, my time in the Navy had me stationed in New London, CT, and Portsmouth NH for a time. Those were ideal little towns. I could go downtown on any evening, go to one of the four or five pubs in town and find people I knew. And if you didn't, people were open to the thought of interacting with a stranger face to face, and perhaps even forging a new friendship. I can't say I've found a friend outside of immediate neighbors and co-workers since I've moved back to Texas, which is ironic considering Texas' reputation for friendliness and hospitality. Could this have anything to do with this new "digital" existence? The anonymity afforded by the internet makes people much more outgoing in that social "medium"...but at what cost?

I've never known Texas to have a reputation for being outgoing. Friendly perhaps but not outgoing. Texas' reputation is very introverted I think whereas the northeast might be colder (har har) but far more "go meet your neighbours at the pub."

One of the many reasons why I want to move to Europe where that type of social interaction is still common. NY has it a little but very little. New England perhaps. I live in NY but live against the NE border. Connecticut is like ten minutes away.

New England was nice. I'd like to move back, eventually. Wouldn't consider moving to Europe, however, as I like owning guns, and dislike socialism. That, however, is a can of worms for another time and place.

I still hate twitter, and I still want to look at Summer Glau while working on Spiceworks.

New England was nice. I'd like to move back, eventually. Wouldn't consider moving to Europe, however, as I like owning guns, and dislike socialism. That, however, is a can of worms for another time and place.

I still hate twitter, and I still want to look at Summer Glau while working on Spiceworks.

New England was nice. I'd like to move back, eventually. Wouldn't consider moving to Europe, however, as I like owning guns, and dislike socialism. That, however, is a can of worms for another time and place.

I still hate twitter, and I still want to look at Summer Glau while working on Spiceworks.